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1-733* '4 - - Los Angeles, June 14, 1950 Mr. A. M. Folger: (CO - Mr. E. E. Bennett) Referring to oorrespondenee ending with your letter of June 5th, file W 23-3-2, oonoerning water contamination at Las Vegas: Upon receipt of the complaint, an Investigation was immediately made to determine the reason for the condition, and we found that a chipmunk In the spring was the souroe of the contamination. When the ohlpmunk was removed and the spring chlorinated, the condition cleared up Immediately, and the Health Department's subsequent analysis of samples found the water to be clear of any contamination. As we were unable to find any openings through which the rodent gained aocess to the spring house, it is probable one of our employes working around the spring failed to keep all open­ings properly olosed. We have cleaned up all of the springs, spring houses, settling basins, reservoirs and other watef producing facilities. Further, all employes have again been cautioned to see that all doore and openings to any of the facilities are kept closed and looked at all times, and we have arranged tot frequent inspec­tions to see that these facilities are maintained in proper condition, which we believe will eliminate any complaint of this character in the future. The water souroe at Las Vegas is well removed from any source of contamination, and with the precautions that are being taken to keep our facilities free of foreign elements, we do not believe it will be necessary to continuously chlorin­ate the water. However, weekly sample of water ehould be taken from each of the settling basins, and you should continue tak­ing frequent water samples from the distribution system so that corrective measures may be promptly taken to eliminate any un­satisfactory conditions that may develop. Wm. Reinhardt dHUfi Id JUN 15 P P II c. c.